From the Legalization Department of the Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs.

PLEASE NOTE:
For certain documents, other authorities at local, regional or federal level must carry out prior legalization.

For more information, please visit this link.

Before presenting your document at the counter of the Legalization service, make sure that your document is signed by a public officer:

either at the municipal level: by the mayor or an alderman or the registrar or a delegated official whose signature has been deposited with the SPF AE (ask the municipality);
either by a notary, etc;
or by an official of a public body whose signature has been deposited with the Legalization service.

Has your document been legalized by the Legalization service of the Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs? Then the embassy or consulate of the country where you want to use the document must carry out the last legalization: Addresses of foreign embassies and consulates in Belgium.

If the country where you want to use the document is linked to the Apostille Convention, then the Legalization service of the Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs affixes an apostille to the document in electronic format and then you can directly use the apostille document in the country of destination. E-apostille / e-legalization?
Since 01/05/2018:

apostilles are issued ONLY in electronic format;
legalizations can be issued on paper and in electronic format.

With a view to issuing apostilles and electronic legalizations, the Legalization service of the FPS Foreign Affairs has created the eLegalization site, which is only accessible for partner authorities (municipalities, notaries, SPF, chambers of commerce, etc.) but not for individuals.

1. IF YOUR DOCUMENT MUST BE EQUIPPED WITH AN APOSTILLE:

No paper apostilles have been issued since May 1, 2018. Apostilles are issued ONLY in electronic format.

No DOCUMENT SIGNED BY A NOTARY and requiring an apostille (see the website of the Belgian Embassy in Tunis) can be presented at the counters or sent by mail to the Legalization service of the FPS Foreign Affairs. THE APPLICATION FOR AN APOSTILLE IS MADE DIRECTLY BY THE NOTARY VIA THE eLegalization SITE (see point 1 below).

TWO procedures are possible to request the e-apostille

The apostille request can be made directly by the document issuing authority at the request of the person concerned.

The accredited partner (municipality, notary, etc.) submits the request from the eLegalization site, payment is made directly online and the link to the apostilled document is sent directly by e-mail to the applicant. The processing time for requests is fast (request processed within 24 hours) and does not incur any additional costs. The entire procedure is therefore done online and you do not have to go to the counters of the Legalization service of the FPS Foreign Affairs.

More information on elegalization - About section.

Ask at the counters of the legalization service: 27 rue des petits Carmes in 1000 Brussels from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Documents with LESS THAN 4 PAGES are processed directly. Documents with more than 4 pages must be submitted and are available the next day. Present the original document (no scan) at the counter of the Legalization service. The electronic apostille can be viewed and downloaded via the LegalWeb site using the number of the apostille and the date of issue.

2. IF YOUR DOCUMENT MUST BE EQUIPPED WITH A LEGALIZATION:

After the legalization of the FPS Foreign Affairs, the document will still have to be legalized by the embassy or consulate of the country of destination.

So please check first whether the foreign embassy or foreign consulate accepts electronic legalization or not.

If so, the document issuing authority (municipality, notary, etc.) can submit the request from the eLegalization site, as for the e-apostille, and you will receive the link to the legalized document by email.

If not, you can always request legalization on paper by going to the counters of the Legalization service of the FPS Foreign Affairs : 27 rue des petits Carmes 1000 Brussels from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Present the original document (no scan) at the counter of the Legalization service

Frequently Asked Questions

Please read the information below carefully to find answers to your questions.

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